TITLE: Forsaken-The return 5/7

TITLE: Forsaken-The return 5/7 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE

E-MAIL: sh01@bigpond.com.au

FEEDBACK: Sure.

DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss! He created everything! The Forsaken belong to Sony Movies and I'm only borrowing them. PG-15 to R. Set in season 5.B/X eventually (Is there any other?) Giles is Buffy's watcher Glory is still around as is Dawn, Darla and Dru. DEDICATED to Queen Angel, Edwin, and Dale et al.. RETURN OF Lavelle. Xander sat in the padded chair and tried to shrug the coat into a more comfortable position. Giles watches him from the doorway of the other room as Dawn asks them." So he just walks out of the night, naked as the day he was born mind you, and you guys do nothing? What if he's like them?" Giles looks at Dawn and shakes his head. " No Dawn if anything I think he's the exact opposite to the forsaken ones." He re-opens the old Watcher diary and thumbs to the final pages. " According to this Michele's watcher awaited the time of his returning with near fanatical devotion…. It is foretold that in the time of the new millennium Abbados would be given free reign to roam the earth by his master. But God too would release a warrior from his realm to do battle with him. God's warrior would be given three trials before being given 'The Armour of God'." Giles shuffles through the book in search of just what these trials would be and what the Armour of God was. Buffy stood and walked into the other room whilst the Scooby's tried to make sense of it all. She stood next to Xander and then knelt by his side, she then took one of his hands and kissed the palm before placing it on her cheek. " I have waited so very long Alexandr`e. Now we can begin to live our lives as we should have." Xander smiled at her and caressed he face lovingly." I would have died a thousand deaths to be this close to you Buffy and to have you love me. " He pulled his hand from her face and she frowned, looking deep into his eyes as he told her. " But it's not Xander you love but some dead guy that I happen to look like. Soon I will go up against the remainder of the Forsaken and then, if I win, I get the chance to fight Abbados. Then if I somehow manage to defeat him the world will be safe from his corruption and things will return to normal." Buffy grins at him then takes his hand once more." Then we can marry and do all the things we wanted to do." He shakes his head. " You don't get it do you? Everything will return to normal!" He stands up and looks down at her. " I died remember? Should they decide my time is up my soul returns to the Guff and my mortal remains turn to dust! If I'm rewarded I get to live again like before. I worship you from afar and you basically ignore me and date everything in trousers." She looked shocked at his outburst as she jumped up." No!" She exclaimed gripping his arm in fear." I love you and only you! No matter what happens in the next few days nothing.." She gripped his chin and made him look at her face. " NOTHING can, or will, ever change that fact. Whether we are Michele and Alexandr`e or Buffy and Xander I will always love you." She saw his frown turn into a grin." Assuming we survive that is." Her grin joined his and then magic happened." Their eyes locked and their lips soon followed. Giles returns to the doorway and looks at the young couple as they kiss. He smiles and moves back into the other room. Willow looks up from her book and tells him. " I can conjure a spell that will reveal where the other three Forsaken are no matter where or when." Xander stands in the doorway with Buffy's hand held in his. His face looks set as he tells them. " Showtime!" TRAVELLER'S INN MOTOR LODGE. Edwar`e licked the last of the maids blood from his lips as he pushed her dead body from the bed. He hiccupped and released a heavy sigh as he stood and dressed in his hunting clothes then picked up his cell phone and let the number ring. He picked at a piece of fluff from his top then spoke. " About time Louis! What were you doing?" Suddenly a strange voice answered. " Sorry but Lois's all cut up over Henri's death." Edwar`e recognises the voice. A voice he hasn't heard in a very long time. " Alexandr`e is that you my old friend?" The man gripped his phone till his knuckles turned white." Well we should meet, my friend and the sooner the better I think!" Edwar`e turns around as his door is smashed in and a small blonde girl walks into the room followed by Xander. Xander looks at Edwar`e and tells him." Is this soon enough?" Then throws Louise phone onto the bed. Edwar`e takes a step back and grabs the sword concealed beside the dresser. Buffy moves to attack but Xander gripped her arm." This one I will handle Michele." He grins at Edwar`e belief no one could defeat him, least of all an unarmed man. Edwar`e charges him and after several moves that should have cleaved his head from his opponents body fail he looks quizzically at Xander." You know the old ways my friend." Xander smiles and nods before Edwar`e charges again. Buffy is worried that Xander is too confident and this time he would pay for it when she sees him move so fast that even with her heightened Slayer senses she almost fails to see the manoeuvre. Edwar`e brings his blade down where Xander's head should have been but in a move Steven Segal would have been proud of, Xander got in under his guard and twisted Edwar`e 's hand till the unmistakable sound of bone snapping filled the room. Xander then, calmly, picked up the fallen sword and pressed it against Edware's chest. " For over eight hundred years I have awaited this moment brother knight." Edwar`e gripped his broken hand with the other then grinned." I take it you don't care much for the redheaded girl or her lover?" He sees Xander hesitate." We too know some of the darker arts and when she used them to find us she left herself open to discovery." Xander turned to Buffy and she reached over and picked up the cell phone, dialling Willow's number." She won't answer my dear! Our old friend Pierre Lacunae has them by now." He points to the darkening window." You have until sunset or until she wakens and drinks the blood of her lover to find, and defeat him. Even if you do Alex do you really think you can do what you failed to do all those years ago? " Edwar`e grins." By now Pierre will have summoned the Dark Lord to return and walk the earth! Do you think you can summon the will to defeat him this time? Or will you fail again and be the cause of countless death and destruction?" Buffy sees him waiver in his resolve as Edwar`e remarks hit home and causes his arm to drop. Buffy grabs the sword from Xander's hand and raises it above her head. " Yes he will! Because this time his friends will not betray him!" She sweeps the blade down and begins the bloody process of dismemberment. She watches the body vanish in a blaze of fire and dust then shudders as what she realises must be Alexandr`e blood run from the pile of dust and winds it's way till it touches the foot of Xander. Xander grimaces and yells out as all the memories and martial skill are returned to him. He staggers and Buffy drops the sword in order to hug him. He looks around amazed and confused at his predicament until he sees her face. " Michele! My love." He plunders her lips with his, leaving them both gasping for air. END OF 5